A report sent by French attorney Patricia Duval to four United Nations Special Rapporteurs on an alarming part of the Japanese anti-cult campaign.
March 4,2025
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Based on a twisted and malicious interpretation of Article 14 §1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the “Convention”) which protects the right of children to freedom of religion or belief, Japan has determined that children from minority religious groups have to be protected and rescued from their parents’ faith, since, they allege, “children may not necessarily be practicing religion out of their own free will.”
In total violation of the rights of parents to educate their children in conformity with their religious beliefs protected by Article 14 §2 of the Convention and Article 18 §4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”), the Japanese authorities have elaborated a new plan targeting specifically the Unification Church (now called Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, but still often referred to with the old name: 30 April 2024, Ref. AL JPN 1/2024) and its believers.
The new plan, entitled “Support for Victims of the Former Unification Church,” was officially adopted at an inter-ministerial meeting at the Prime Minister’s cabinet on 19 January 2024. It includes a whole set of measures of “assistance” to underage children to set them against their parents’ beliefs and estrange them from their parents, to a point where they are enabled to request the appointment of a new guardian and claim refund of their parents’ donations to the Church in court through state funded lawyers.
The governmental measures adopted in January 2024 (“the Plan”) implement the following:
1.Indoctrination of children at elementary school, through cartoons and chat boxes on the internet, about child abuses related to religious beliefs; such abuses include making a child participate in religious activities, rigid morals using the concept of hell, confession, etc.
2.“Awareness” sessions given through human rights classes, including “consumer education” on religious donations, in particular on the “criminal financial activities” of the Unification Church, in order to raise awareness of children about the financial impact they might suffer from their parents’ donations to the Church,
3.Distribution of SOS mini letters to be filled by the children and leaflets with telephone numbers to call for further questions and talk with counsellors,
4.Consultation services provided by counsellors trained by apostates from the Unification Church,
5.Counselling provided to children who have become “worried about their parents’ religious beliefs” and referral of anxious children to mental health institutions,
6.Referring children who complain about not having enough money for a living or “normal socializing” activities to lawyers who can act on their behalf and claim rescission of their parents’ donations to the Church and damages in Court,
7.Requesting suspension of parental authority and temporary custody in cases of abuse as defined in the “Guidelines on responding to child abuse related to religious beliefs,” in order to “protect” the children from their parents’ influence.
The Plan is first designed to “create an environment that facilitates consultations for children and youth, including second-generation individuals in religious communities, who may have difficulty recognizing or voicing experiences of abuse or other forms of victimization.”
To help the children “recognize” or become “aware” that they have been abused by their parent believers, several measures are to be reinforced: “Expand the implementation of ‘Human Rights Classes’ from elementary schools to junior high and high schools, and distribute the ‘Children’s Rights SOS Mini-Letter’ to elementary and junior high school students.”
The Plan provides that “Education at schools, as well as consumer education conducted by the Ministry of Justice’s human rights protection bodies in coordination with schools—such as ‘Human Rights Classes’ and outreach lectures—is extremely important for helping children and youth broaden their perspectives and develop multifaceted thinking skills.”
In other words, the “human rights protection” bodies’ task is to raise “critical thinking” of children towards their parents’ faith.
The Plan provides for “Strengthening awareness-raising activities to ensure understanding that, even if actions are motivated by a parent’s or a guardian’s religious beliefs, such actions may constitute human rights violations against children.”
It refers in this regard to the Guidelines that raised concern from four UN Special Rapporteurs who sent an official Communication to the Japanese Government on 30 April 2024. These Guidelines entitled “Questions and Answers on Responding to Child Abuse Related to Religious Beliefs” (the “Guidelines” or the “Q&A”) were issued by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare on 27 December 2022.
Those Guidelines include, inter alia, that making a child participate in religious activities constitutes “psychological abuse,” having a child disclose sexual experiences to religious ministers during confession constitutes “sexual abuse,” imprinting continuous fear since childhood through severe verbal reprimands or references to “hell” constitutes child abuse, etc.
In summary, the “education” provided during the Ministry of Justice’s human rights classes aims at making children realize that, due to religion, their parents have been abusing them since an early age.
They also aim, according to the Plan, “at informing that children can seek help from the Ministry of Justice’s human rights protection bodies for issues arising from their relationship with religion or consult school counselors or school social workers through schools and other institutions.”
The Plan gives the following figures for what has been done so far: “Number of human rights classes conducted in FY2022 (Former Year) (excluding adult-focused sessions): approximately 12,300.”
It provides the following “Initiatives by the Ministry of Justice” for the future (after January 2024): “Efforts to increase opportunities for children to easily consult with the human rights protection bodies of the Ministry of Justice. Expanding the distribution points of the SOS Mini Letters, which are distributed to all elementary and junior high school students each semester, to include new locations such as child consultation centers, child welfare facilities, and after-school clubs.”
Examples of consultation cases are also being added. Example situations for using the service include “I am troubled about my parent’s religion.” And the Plan gives the following figures: “Distribution figures [of SOS Mini Letters] for the first and second quarters of FY2023: approximately 11.25 million copies. Awareness cards for ON LINE-human rights consultation are being distributed and made available at various locations.”
In summary, what we are facing here is a vast destabilization campaign launched on underage children in violation of their parents’ right to educate their children in accordance with their own faith, based, in the absence of real abuses or even “victims,” on the vague and arbitrary concept of “mental manipulation” which the parents would be subjected to and could exert on their children.
Source: bitterwinter.org
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